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Friday, September 17, 2010

". . . and other favorite bedtime rhymes"

This morning Maya & I were sitting on the floor, reading some books. She lovesreading books, which I guess I can't complain about, but Weds. when she woke up from her nap I said "Guess what?! We have time to go outside and play before therapy!" and she started to cry, pointing at her bookshelf and signing "Want! Book! Book! Book! Want!". (We compromised and rushed through 2 books before going to the playground.)

I digress.

We were reading a book called "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and other favorite bedtime rhymes" when we came across the gem below. First, look at how cute the page is, with the sweet little cartoon goose. He's smiling, climbing some stairs, wearing a bow . . . awwww.

Here are the words, in case you can't see them (in bold). Also, here is the side commentary that I said to Maya as we read (in italics).

Goosey, goosey, gander See the goose, Maya? A goose says "honk, honk"

Whither shall I wander?That doesn't rhyme.

Upstairs and downstairs,

And in my lady's chamber. Maybe that's the chamber door, right? Can you do "knock, knock" on

Seriously, folks. There are about 17,000 "other favorite bedtime rhymes" out there. Dave alone makes up 2-4 rhymes on an average day. And somehow "Goosey, goosey, gander" was a must have in this compilation?

Although it did spice up story time for me, if I had been reading to anyone older it might send the wrong message . . . you know, like if someone doesn't do what you want, just grab them by the left leg and toss them down the stairs. Maybe the hidden lesson here is about right vs. left?

As with most nursery rhymes and fairy tales, while we consider them as being for children, they were originally 'written' for adults and told orally by traveling story tellers. For example the original version of Cinderella (which I had in a compilation growing up)includes the step sisters cutting of their toes or heels in order to get the shoe to fit, the messenger taking them to meet the prince is alerted to this by birds singing about the trail of blood behind them. It mad the Disney version decidedly boring! There was also one I loved but have never seen sanitised version of about a goat or goose herder whose sweetheart had their head chopped off and stuck above the village/town walls and would sing to the herder as they went in and out eventually saving their life by warning them of the bad guy's plans!! The book had been my mothers and I guess we still have it somewhere! Great blog by the way!